Poll: Enviro votes won't singe Dems

Bucking conventional wisdom, environmentalists released a poll on Monday that shows 21 House Democrats won't be burned at the ballot box for their votes on global warming and energy legislation.

The Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund surveyed voters in 23 congressional districts considered to be close races this November. Automated telephone calls asked whether the voters were likely to support a House candidate who supported legislation that would "create millions of new jobs, reduce our use of foreign oil, hold corporate polluters accountable and cut the pollution that causes climate change” — all talking points used by sponsors of the legislation.

Heather Taylor-Miesle, the NRDC Action Fund director, said the survey results demonstrate the political payoff for Democrats who helped the House pass its climate bill in June 2009, even though the Senate never acted on the issue.

"At the end of the day these people are going to win or lose based on leadership," she said. "And we think clean energy is part of that leadership."

Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, found fault with NRDC’s findings.

"As this poll conveniently fails to mention, the Democrats' national energy tax would destroy American jobs and increase costs on middle-class families,” he said. “It may be hard for radical environmental groups to accept their diminished clout in the next Congress, but the Democrats who supported this job-killing legislation are headed towards defeat in November."

The NRDC Action Fund contacted between 500 and 900 voters in each district between Oct. 7-13. Their poll results have a margin of error of plus or minus between 3.3 and 4.4 percent.